Microsoft has kicked off a major UK advertising campaign in an attempt to drive users to its Bing search engine.
The multi-million-pound campaign, launched this week, includes a sponsorship deal for the The Simpsons on Channel 4. The deal makes Microsoft the first technology company to sponsor the satirical show, and a series of Bing advertisements will run alongside the show - airing during the advertising break and before and after each episode.
The brief Bing adverts attached to The Simpsons portray a family using the search engine to find answers to everyday questions. The sponsorship is expected to run for the next three months, and arrives as The Simpsons celebrates its twentieth anniversary.
As part of of its massive UK-wide push, Microsoft has also this week introduced a three-month advertising campaign for UK TV and online media.
A series of "Bing & Decide" advertisements are expected to air on ITV, Channel 4, Five and numerous other digital channels from Sky and Virgin, with the first in the series (embedded below) making its debut during the half-time break of ITV's Manchester United vs. AC Milan coverage.
Microsoft hopes its campaign will highlight the differences between Bing and other rival search engines, with Microsoft positioning Bing as a "decision engine" that aims to help web users "make more informed decisions".
In keeping with a similar campaign launched previously in the United States, Microsoft's UK advertisements will feature an individual suffering from "information overload", with Bing deemed to be the solution.
The software giant will be hoping that the ad presence can help Bing overtake Yahoo! in its attempt to become the UK's second most popular search engine. At present, Bing commands just over 3 per cent of the global search engine market share. Rival search engine Yahoo! commands some 6 per cent of the market, whilst Google occupies a colossal 86 per cent.
